Puzzle initial in red and blue with pen-flourishing in the same colours (f. 73). Initials in red or blue with pen-flourishing in the same colours extending in the margins to form partial borders. Numerous ink diagrams illustrating the Image du monde. Coloured initials in red ink.

Dimensions in mm

165 x 115 (130 x 90), in 2 columns

Official foliation

ff. 117 (+ 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 3 at the end + 3 unfoliated parchment leaves after f. 117)

Form

Parchment codex

Binding

BM/BL in-house.

Provenance

Part of f. 106 has been excised.The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts. Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.

Notes

Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.Catchwords written horizontally. Leaf signatures.For a more detailed list of contents, see Catalogue 1808 or Arlima website, and for the contents of the Aesopic fables, Ward 1893.

Select bibliography

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), no. 4333.